And he will almost certainly die prematurely from either accelerated cardiovascular disease, cancer or emphysema. This, in addition to the adverse health affects on those he lives and works with.

That's assuming he made it back from Iraq and that he keeps on smoking.

The problem is that smokers become addicted and smoke too much. I'm not convinced that smoking in moderation is terrible for your health. Pipe smokers for instance live longer than non-pipe smokers, though it is likely that this is not due to pipe smoking but a result of the type of people who smoke pipes.

I live in coastal California, so I don't see much smoking. The only thing that is considered hip to smoke out here is marijuana. Somehow the pot smokers don't think it is bad for their health.

I only smoke three or four cigars a year, so I'm not worried that I'm harming my health in any statistically significant way.

That's assuming he made it back from Iraq and that he keeps on smoking.

The problem is that smokers become addicted and smoke too much. I'm not convinced that smoking in moderation is terrible for your health. Pipe smokers for instance live longer than non-pipe smokers, though it is likely that this is not due to pipe smoking but a result of the type of people who smoke pipes.

I live in coastal California, so I don't see much smoking. The only thing that is considered hip to smoke out here is marijuana. Somehow the pot smokers don't think it is bad for their health.

I only smoke three or four cigars a year, so I'm not worried that I'm harming my health in any statistically significant way.

That's BS! Any amount of tobacco, in any form, increases the risk of numerous diseases, especially cancers of the mouth and throat. Marijuana doesn't contain nicotine, or any of the numerous other toxic chemicals contained in cigarette tobacco during curing. Cigar and pipe tobacco is less dangerous, but, still very dangerous. You think pipe, cigar and moderate smoking is safe. Go for it, in the privacy of your home with your family. No skin off my nose.

But, we are not all going to die "prematurely," and cause those around us to die prematurely, because we are foolish enough to become addicted to a highly toxic, dangerous, drug.

My quibble with this perspective is that tobacco isn't highly toxic. That's why it makes such a good drug, unlike say meth, though not as good as coffee. If you can constantly suck on cigarettes for 40 years straight before it kills you, by definition that isn't a highly toxic drug - that's a mildly toxic drug.

The idea that second hand smoke, especially from someone smoking outdoors say on another tennis court, is going to kill you or seriously harm your health seems mostly fantasy. The problem with smokers is that they tend to stink.

But, we are not all going to die "prematurely," and cause those around us to die prematurely, because we are foolish enough to become addicted to a highly toxic, dangerous, drug.

This notion of a "premature" death is ridiculous. It suggests you're going to die before you're "ready", except noone wants to die before they're ready.

And quite frankly, I don't hear anyone verbally lynching a group about having to breathe in charcoal smoke from the neighbors barbecue, CO gas while sitting at a traffic light, forest fires, the scent of fried junkfood as they pass a mc donald's, or anything else that is a short term annoyance. Leave everyone who is not you, alone to live how they please.